The writing has been on the wall for a while now. Ever since the launch of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in September, there have been reports that customers were favoring the high-end iPhone with the fingerprint sensor, which sells at an unsubsidized price of 5,288 yuan in China ($866). As for the “low-cost” iPhone 5C, its price tag of 4,488 yuan in China ($735) apparently wasn’t low cost enough to quicken the heartbeat of the price conscious set.

Apple has cut Pegatron’s fourth-quarter orders for the iPhone 5C by “less than 20%,” says a person familiar with the matter. The device’s secondary assembler, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also saw order cuts at a magnitude of one-third, according to people familiar with the matter.

“In the very early days, Apple would revise up its orders, if anything,” said Yuanta Research analyst Vincent Chen. “Now it is increasingly difficult for suppliers to forecast.”

This means that being an Apple supplier is becoming more complicated. Pegatron had built out manufacturing capacity, hired thousands of new workers, and accepted profit margins close to zero as it prepared to become a major Apple supplier. While working for Apple has pushed the relatively new contract manufacturer’s revenue to new highs, it’s also meant a recent surprise that some of the expected orders aren’t coming in.